Opel’s European sales highest in four years

New registrations of Opel cars hit their highest level in four years in 2009 as government-backed scrapping incentives bolstered a floundering European auto industry.

The German government paid owners €2,500 (AU$4,000) to scrap cars that were at least nine years old if they replaced them with a new car.

New registrations of Opel cars in Germany rose 31 per cent (or approximately 339,000 units) in 2009, boosting the company’s market share in the country to about 8.9 per cent.

The news comes as Opel readies a €3.3 billion (AU$5.28 billion) overhaul that will see it cut 8,300 of its 50,000 jobs and seek state aid from countries with Opel plants including Germany, Britain, Spain and Poland.